Welcome to Tulsa
by sunkissedchris
Summary: "In war, you don't fight for your country; you don't fight for the ideology behind the conflict:  You fight for your friends, family, the people you love, and the guys standing next to you."  Soda is back home. One-shot


*I don't own _The Outsiders_, no copyright infringement intended.

Rated T for cursing and less than pleasant images. Please excuse any typos.

(Third Person POV)

* * *

Sodapop Curtis was finally going home. Home, a word that seems simple, but really isn't. It implies so much. Family, friends, love, hope, comfort, and for those less fortunate, pain and hurt. Home to Soda was where he was happy. A place filled with joy, along with his friends and brothers. He missed them all so much.

Soda was returning after his yearlong service for the U.S. Army. The relief when he was finally told he could go home was enough to make him cry. He was more than anxious to get home, and to find out what everyone was up to. It was difficult staying in contact with everyone; it took so long for the letters to get mailed back and forth.

Soda was worried about all his buddies. He didn't want anyone else to go to 'Nam. It was Hell. There was no other way to describe it. The heat of the jungle and the humidity that clung to you like a second skin were considered positives when he compared it to some of the other things he'd seen, that he'd done.

Soda glanced out the window of the plane. The rumble of the engine was calming; Soda found that there was nothing worse than silence. He never particularly liked silence, but he never really minded it much before. But, silence can be scary. The silence before the storm….silence was foreboding. Every time the jungle got too silent, Soda seemed to _know _something was going to happen.

It was rare to fight the enemy face to face. They had the advantage. They lived in that climate and were used to it, they scouted those woods all their lives. Then mainly American boys who just brushed the age of eighteen were sent not truly understanding what was going to happen, what they should be expecting. They were thrown into that place...The jungle made it easy to sneak up on the enemy and vice versa. Soda had heard some of the older guys talking, they called it _guerilla warfare._ Soda felt it was an appropriate name; there was nothing humane about war.

Soda let his forehead rest against the cool window. He noted that he sounded like Ponyboy. The kid was completely opposed to the war. Pony always had his opinions, but now he was no longer worried about keeping them to himself. Pony felt the government was out of line to go into Vietnam. It was a civil war; it didn't have anything to do with us. Pony could go on and on about the domino effect the government was so worried about, and the Cold War, and how nuclear power was something that should be completely destroyed.

Soda smiled slightly to himself. He loved seeing Pony get so worked up. He was passionate about everything he did, and Soda digged that about his little brother.

Soda's smiled slipped slightly when he remembered just how _passionate _Pony's reaction had been when he finally told him about the draft notice. He pushed the memory away. Pony had been torn between being furious and melancholy. Soda hated seeing Pony like that, he hated knowing he made Pony feel that way. His little brother had been through enough in his sixteen years, he didn't need any more pain.

Darry hadn't been much better. Soda could tell he was upset, even though he held it in and expressed it a lot better than Pony had. Either way, they'd all been distraught at the time. Two-Bit had acted like his puppy dog had just been run over in front of him. Steve had been…Soda hadn't been prepared for Stevie's response at all. Steve dealt with the news by embracing self destructive behavior, even going as far as wanting to enlist so he could be by Soda's side. Of course Soda talked Steve out of that idea, he couldn't ask his buddy to go there with him.

Soda's smile returned, but that was all over. He'd done his service, and was going home. He'd made it. He fought with vigor, and was returning to his brothers, to his buddies. He was lucky.

His family didn't know he was returning home yet. He hadn't told them because he knew of guys who ended up dead just a few weeks before they were due home. Soda didn't want to risk getting his brothers excited and hopeful, just to be blown away a couple weeks before leaving.

Soda didn't like thinking like that; it was against the grain so to speak. He didn't want nor enjoy acknowledging the chances he had of dying and coming home in a casket. Hell, sometimes the bodies weren't even found. But, Soda was lucky and he was on his way home, so he brushed such morbid thoughts away and focused on the gang's faces when they found out he was home and safe.

Soda liked surprises, and he knew he was about to deliver one hell of a surprise to his family.

However, he was starting to wish he _did_ tell someone that he was coming home. He knew there would be a large group of people greeting the other soldiers. Soda would have to watch that, and knew it would hurt to see, knowing he was going to have to wait awhile still to see his family. It was a two or three hour drive back to Tulsa from the base, and he was planning on taking buses, so it would take some time.

The landing was a bit rough, and had Soda's nerves all in a bunch.

_In. Out. In. Out._

Soda opened his eyes, noting he wasn't the only one calming themselves down. Soda grabbed a backpack that held all of his stuff. He was glad it was all he had and he didn't have to wait for his luggage. He could just leave. Now that he thought about it, he wondered how some of the guys actually had luggage. What the hell do you bring to war with you other than a couple pictures, paper, pens, envelopes, and some underwear? Everything else was giving to you; they even gave you underwear if you needed them, Soda had preferred his own briefs though.

Soda glanced at the crowd that was gathered outside the aircraft. He tried to ignore the pang in his chest as couples reunited, and other soldiers' families and friends screamed their welcomes. Soda shook his head as he watched a soldier, one he didn't even know, begin crying when he was met by a young woman, holding a small bundle in her arms.

Soda felt degusted. Nobody should be taken from their wife while their pregnant. That guy is a Dad; he should've been here, not in 'Nam.

Personally, Soda never supported the war. Who did though? Even though he didn't support it, he'll admit he didn't know everything about it like Pony did. Sodapop didn't make his opinion known with posters or anything like that, and he never did anything to help with the effort to pull troops from 'Nam. Now though, maybe he would. He didn't want anyone else to go there, but he knew now that he was out; someone else was going in to replace him.

Soda wasn't sure how to feel about that.

He didn't want anyone to replace him. Soda almost had half a mind to go back, continue serving, save someone from seeing that. No one deserved to go there. Maybe if Soda didn't miss his family so much, and didn't have the knowledge that they missed him just has much, he would've stayed there, just to save someone from that place.

In war, you don't fight for your country; you don't fight for the ideology behind the conflict: You fight for your friends, family, the people you love, and the guys standing next to you.

XXX

_They'd stumbled upon a village, one that wasn't marked on their map. Soda let the other men ponder over the diagrams; he wasn't any good at that sort of stuff. If he had to, he could make sense of the map, but he didn't really feel like it was his area of expertise so he let the others deal with it._

_He took a small sip of water. It was warm, and tasted strange from the metal canteen that had held it for so long. He made sure to take small drinks, saving what they had left. Sure they could get more, but Soda preferred not to drink from the streams that they found, knowing that just a little ways up a dead body could be floating in the water's depth. Not to mention, drinking too fast in this sort of heat would just make him sick._

"_They've seen us," Soda murmured, catching the attention of the rest of the soldiers in his unit. "It doesn't look like they're going to do anything. They seem cautious but otherwise curious."_

_Erikson glanced over Soda's shoulder. "They do, they look scared."_

_Soda felt like Erikson was the dumbest person ever to grace the Earth. "Small kids afraid of foreign men carrying guns? No shit they're scared! We ain't exactly lookin' like we're going to a tea party," Soda rolled his eyes. The constant stress was taking its toll on him. He hadn't slept well since he got here, going a couple days with no more than a few hours worth of sleep wasn't uncommon for him._

"_We might as well go, huh, maybe we can get some food. I don't see any signs of _them_," Sullivan commented. Soda liked Sullivan, despite the guy's incomparable hatred for the Vietnamese (though every soldier held ill feelings towards the enemy, in Soda's opinion, no one hated them like Sully did). However, Soda didn't blame him for it, Sullivan had lost his cousin in this jungle before he'd been drafted, he'd considered his cousin a brother, and was still bitter over his death._

_Soda nodded in agreement, he saw mostly woman and children. They looked harmless enough. They stepped completely out of the cover of the trees, tense and ready for anything, glancing around for any signs of danger. _

_A small girl, no older than six came running up to them, surprising everyone. She handed Roggers, the guy who led the unit for the most part, a small doll. "Thank you?" He said, confused. The girl didn't smile, just ran back towards the village._

_Soda got a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. _

_BOOM! _

_It rained blood, bone hit Soda in the face and-_

Soda started awake, shaking his head, feeling slightly nauseous.

He was tired, extremely tired, and was desperately hoping for this bus trip to end. It was hard for him to stay awake; he'd once thought these bus seats were uncomfortable, now they felt like one of Heaven's clouds.

Soda nearly groaned thinking about what his bed at home would feel like. The hot water of the shower, chocolate cake! Oh, Soda needed to get home and quickly. If he was really lucky, maybe he could convince Pony to sleep with him for the night. Maybe his brother's presence would keep the nightmares away, just like his company had done for his baby brother after their parents' died.

Soda shivered, the windows on the bus were open and shockingly cool air flowed in freely. Soda forgot how cold it could get at night, even in the summer.

He almost cried when he saw the sign: _Welcome to Tulsa._

XXX

A strangled curse slipped through his lips. Since when was his house so _dark_? He blinked a few times, adjusting to the dimness, wishing he still had some of the light from the porch light outside. Soda stumbled slightly, the door slamming a little harder than he meant for it to, startling him, "Fuck."

"Two-Bit? I swear to God if you are waking me up again, I'm going to-" Soda cut Steve off by jumping on him where he lay on the couch.

"What the f-SODAPOP!" Steve yelped loudly, throwing his arms around his best buddy. "Goddamn, you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm okay," Soda grinned. "I missed you, Stevie."

"Same here, buddy. You didn't tell me you were getting back, what the fuck is up with that? And-"

"What the hell is going on?" Darry groaned.

"Will everyone shut the fuck up! I'm trying to sleep," Pony yelled. Soda was surprised by the curse that slid from Pony's lips, what didn't surprise him was when Darry reprimanded him for it. The light turned on, blinding them all momentarily.

"Soda?" Darry's voice was surprised.

Soda grinned hopping up. Steve was relieved to see that 'Nam hadn't stolen Soda's enthusiasm.

Darry looked at Soda as if he were dreaming, while Ponyboy stumbled in rubbing his eyes. Pony was almost comical, his eyes widened and he froze completely.

"SODA!" Pony screamed before jumping his older brother. A sob broke from both of them. "I missed you s-so much, it w-wasn't the same-" Pony couldn't finish his sentence.

"I know Pone, I missed you too, more than you can imagine. Where's my hug, Superman? I'm getting older here," he teased his older brother, pulling a watery grin from Dar. The three of them held on tight to one another.

XXX

Soda had unabashedly called the Matthews household, waking everyone up. It hadn't taken long before Two-Bit came bounding through the Curtis' front door, in nothing more than his pajama bottoms.

Soda smiled. He was home, safe. The familiar smells of home were comforting, while a couple of changes were not, those changes namely in his baby brother. Pony had finally shaken off the last bits of childhood while Soda was away. No more baby face jokes could be said now; Soda couldn't believe his baby brother was now taller than him, sporting the starting of a beard that would probably be shaven off the next morning.

Darry looked the same for the most part, maybe a couple more fine lines around the eyes, but otherwise not much different. Steve and Two-Bit hadn't changed a bit, Sodapop wondered if they actually ever would, he really hoped not.

He was home, but knew that wouldn't automatically make everything okay. Sure he was happy, but he knew he'd be dealing with the repercussions of war for the rest of his life.

But for now, Soda wasn't going to think about that. His gripped tightened on his already sleeping baby brother, and he soon joined him in peaceful slumber.

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What do you all think? I hope you all liked it.

Please review!


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